Sophie's Political Views During World War II

Sophie and her brother both start as being fans of Nazism and Hitler’s rein. “Hans was an active Hitler Youth leader- all the children had been members of the movement- the most disturbing aspect of their lives had been the conflicts this had aroused with their fathers” (Dumbach 15). They did this even against their father’s wishes and beliefs. They thought that it was the right thing to do because all of the other children around them were doing this same thing. They saw it as an exciting thing to participate in. They “felt themselves a part in the rebuildings of their deeply divided and demoralized nation”(24). Before Hitler came to power, when they listened to him speak they liked what he had to say about the youth. However they ended up changing these views. “All of the Scholl children had grown disillusioned with National Socialism, and after a few tension-filled years, the family was reconciled” (Dumbach 15). They do this because “their family stood posed against a regime that was making increasing inroads into the peace and autonomy of their lives”(15). Also Hans was appalled by the rules that the Hitler Youth had in place. “[A]n early confrontation that raised within him doubts about the organization to

With many young receptive minds at his disposal Hitler initiated the plans that saw all members of Hitler youth indoctrinated into the Nazi ideals. Hitler made it publicly clear what his plans for brainwashing the youths would consist of: “After these youths have entered our organisations at the age of ten, and there experienced, for the first time, some fresh air….. We shall under no circumstances return them into the hands of our old champions of class and social standing, but instead place them immediately in the party, or the labour front, the SA or SS….. And thus they will never be free again for the rest of their lives.” The Nazis successfully achieved the indoctrination by employing many different subtle brainwashing techniques. For example, at drill times, the repetitive use of a song helped numb the young minds of the Hitler Youth. These songs would invariably be related to duty, blood, honour, soil and above all death and fighting. The lyrics of one such song goes like this: “We are marching for Hitler through night and dread/ with the banner of youth for freedom and bread.” This indoctrination

One of my character in my book is Korinna is a thirteen old girl. she is a cheerful, life-loving, stubborn to honor her beloved Fatherland (a nickname for Germany). Germany she is an active member of the local Jungmadel, a Nazi youth group. Korianna is being taught to hate Jews, hate anyone that was "different", and to turn in information on anyone who was behaving as if they were not a "loyal" German. She believes that Hitler is helping the world by dealing with what he calls the "Jewish problem." When Korinna discovers that her parents are secretly hiding Jews in their house and helping them to escape the city, she is shocked. And her loyalties are put to an extreme test when a neighbor tips off the Gestapo. Korinna blames her parents for

Schools were riddled with propaganda like a disease, it controlled people instead of just influencing them. “The youth organizations, particularly the Hitler Youth, have been accorded powers of control which enable every boy and girl to exercise authority backed up by threats.”(Spartacus Educational, 1997) Even as the kids were being controlled, adults who worked in certain areas that refused to respect the Nazi Party ultimately became fired. “Teachers who did not support the Nazi Party were sacked.”(Spartacus Educational, 1997) Most of all, almost everyone became submissive and obeyed the Nazis. “Gradually, the old teachers were replaced with younger ones, those with Nazi orientations.”(Spartacus Educational, 1997) As so, the new teachers that had been radicalized conformed with and embraced the new curriculum. This new school curriculum was not very overwhelming but, most of the commands shaped the German children. The Holocaust Explained argues that, “Hitler and the Nazis wanted all young Aryans to be physically fit and perfectly obedient.”(The Holocaust Explained, n.d.) As more people and children submitted to the Nazis, commands that were made out of the bounds of an average school’s limits were enforced. Children were bribed out of their freedoms for money, unknowingly and

During the time of Adolf Hitler, many young German Kids were forced to join the Hitler Youth. Teachers pressured the German students into joining the Hitler Youth program, In “Hitler Youth: Growing up in Hitler’s Shadow,” author Susan Campbell Bartolletti discussed the ways Adolf Hitler used education to further Nazi ideals. To make young Germans into good Nazis, Hitler changed the textbooks and the curriculum, so that it only taught Nazi approved ideas. Hitler also made the German students pledge to him every single day, by saying, “Heil Hitler” to a poster of him and a Nazi flag. Hitler and the Nazis also forced teachers to teach the Nazi ideas to make sure that every German student would grow up to be a good Nazi.

One characteristic of totalitarianism being shown in the movie is education/indoctrination of the youth. They did this through an organization called the Hitlerjugend, or commonly referred to in the movie as the HJs. The nazis were brainwashing boys and young men into believing Hitler’s ideology. One example of how this is depicted in the movie is Peter being forced to join the HJ after getting in trouble with the police for stealing a radio. Once he joined he would then be introduced to the “teachings” of the HJ teachers, with the teachers derogating Jews. This is an example of education of the youth because young men were strongly encouraged and in Peter’s case, forced to join the HJ. Once they joined they were taught about Hitler’s ideas, with them usually bad-mouthing other races or anything that was an influence from America. Another way that education of the youth was being shown in the movie was when a Jewish boy was being beaten up by a group of HJs. This is an example of education of the youth because the Hitlerjugend were successfully brainwashing the boys and young men to discriminate and hate Jews. Finally education of the youth is shown when Thomas and Peter were discussing about the HJ, one interesting point that appeared during their discussion was when Thomas mentioned all the rewards

“Young boys were organized into the Deutches Jungvolk (German Young People, informally called Pimpfe), older boys into the Hitlerjugend (HJ). The Deutches Jungvolk could have boys from the ages of 10-14 and the Hitlerjugend could have boys from the ages of 14-18. When World War II started, more than ninety percent of German youth were members of these organizations. Ninety percent is a huge percentage. That means that almost every teenage German, Gentile was a member of some kind of Nazi Youth Organization. Many of these youth organization actually over rid the parental control on the children. Many were told that the individual or the family was less important than the state. If children had disloyal parents, they were encouraged to report them. When the boys weren’t in school or at home with their parents, they were with their youth organization learning military maneuvers and different chants. An example of the one the chants that the Hitler Youth used to march around chanting are: “Comrades, we march to the field, red today, tomorrow dead, Comrades it must be that way.” If the boys made any achievement in the Hitler Youth, credit in school would be given to the student. The teacher must respect the authority of the youth leaders, regardless of their age or attitude towards them. Blind obedience seems to be a common theme. Children are taught these ideologies without knowing the true real reason. Teachers are forced to believe and follow these ideologies if they wish to

(Schloss 77) This is when she is going to a work camp and she asks if her mother can come with her, which was very courageous of her, because they could have gotten mad and just killed her and her mother. Even small decisions or choices could affect someone’s life, like if they were to say something wrong in front of a Nazi they could get reported and then be sent to a concentration camp or even a death camp. Also, people had to choose carefully about who they trusted because they could easily trust someone that was on the opposite side and they could be turned in. In the Holocaust, there must have been many very hard choices that must have made people’s life very hard and

Early Life 1929 the 12th of June, a child is born, and that child is Annelies ‘‘Anne’’ Marie Frank. Anne Frank is a Jewish girl who grew up during WW2 and the Holocaust. Throughout her childhood, her and her father Otto, her mother Edith, and her older sister Margot, lived generally carefree lives in the German city, Frankfurt am Main. Growing up she was raised as a liberal Jew, and her and her family typically didn’t follow all customs and traditions of Judaism, the religion that Jewish people followed. When Anne was born, the family lived in an apartment like building called Marbachweg 307, where they rented out two floors. In 1931 when Anne was around the age of three, they moved into Ganghoferstrasse 24 in a modern, liberal area called Dichterviertel. When Hitler began his reign in 1933 the Frank family had moved out of fear of their lives, and were among the 30 000 Jews who had managed to escape Germany. When the family moved to Amsterdam, Anne and Margot were immediately enrolled in school. Margot was enrolled in public school, while Anne was enrolled in a Montessori school, a type of education focused mainly on observation of the child. During her years at her Montessori school Anne showed great aptitude for writing, and her friend Hanneli Goslar even recalls Anne writing a lot when they were younger, though she never let anyone read her writing and would shield it with her hands and refuse to tell anyone about it. In 1940 when Germany invaded the Netherlands, Otto

She wrote, “The rest of our family, however, felt the full impact of Hitler’s anti-Jewish laws, so life was filled with anxiety.” Anne gives the reader an insight about how she felt, being a child who was in

People gave up the control of their own lives in their desire to belong. The teacher, Ben Ross would show them how the Nazi

Sophie shows her knowledge of conscience as a capacity in her ability to recognize right and wrong. She understands that any actions that her others or infringe on the natural right of another person, for any reason is wrong. Silencing a passive resistance, killing the mentally ill, setting up concentration camps, and demanding one give up their beliefs to follow the orders of Hitler is wrong. Sophie also knows that taking up arms against the German military and fighting back with violence, despite the wrongs that military has committed, would also be wrong. She also recognizes that standing up against an oppressive regime is right. She also displays conscience as a process in her search for achieving moral wisdom. Sophie informs herself of what is right and wrong by listening to her own experiences, such as the advice her father used to give her. She also looks to the Bible and the teachings of Christianity to understand what is right and wrong. She also attends university, where she attends lectures on philosophy, in attempt to understand what is right and wrong from the perspective of the sciences. The third sense, conscience as a judgement, is displayed in her ability to make a commitment to do what is right. Despite the danger of standing up against an oppressive government, Sophie remains steadfast in doing what she believes is right. She writes hundreds of pamphlets and spreads them in order to

In the Hitler Youth movement, created in 1922, each child born had to join an extremely tough military training in preparation for any kind of war. Many children did not know why they were training in that way. Yet for them just the feeling in being proud and brave was enough to continue in their tasks. They enjoyed being the center of attention and the object of the adult desires. We can say that the Nazis system in

The Success of Nazi Policies Toward Education and Youth Hitler and the Nazi party had a range of policies to control education and the German youth. This was mainly to ensure loyalty to Hitler and the Nazi party. Some believed in these policies and other did not but it was fear and glory and the fear of social inadequacy that made most comply. Hitler and the Nazis wanted to control the education system and youth by controlling the teachers, pupils and the curriculum.

When Sophie was twelve years old, she joined the League of German Girls. This was a “pseudo-Nazi organization” (Pettinger). These organizations, called Hitler Youth Organizations, “trained and educated” German teenagers to become “loyal followers of the Nazi Party” (Zapotczny). Initially, Sophie excelled in the League of German Girls. She enjoyed the activities and was even promoted to a leadership position. However, Sophie eventually became skeptical about the organization she was in (Pettinger). As was typical